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Now, I know the cricket season has finished and in most cases it was a season to forget on the field but I think you’ll all agree it’s been a much better atmosphere off it. Our social engagements/bar tabs have been significantly higher than previous seasons which is great to see.

With that being said, it’s time for my annual post regarding this years 11 aside Footie match, Xmas lunch and post season presentation. For all those that are new to the club, this has been a well attended social event for many years so would be great to keep that going.

Footie Match – Under 30’s vs Over 30’s
We will continue the tradition and have a club wide footie game, Under’s vs Overs’s (may be adjusted on the day depending on numbers). Kick off will be around 11.30am on the adelaide. If you are keen to play please contact Phil Dunnett.

XMAS Lunch
The lunch will commence in the clubhouse after the annual footie match. Peter Jouning is coordinating this, please confirm your attendance and the attendance of any guests you have to him.

As per the last few years, we will be having an end of season social at the completion of next week’s final league games. With the 1’s and 3’s still with a lot to play for, hopefully everyone can enjoy some form of celebration next week.

Nothing major, but like we have done throughout the season, a big drink up in the club along with some ordering of some food. We can then venture out if people are up for that too!

It was déjà vu all over again as, for the second week running, Southgate succumbed to the wiles of two left arm spinners.

Earlier, Southgate had performed reasonably in the field and never lost focus in the sweltering conditions.

Wickets fell regularly to the usual variations of slow bowling, the off spin of Ravi Desai and the medium pace of Dave Woffinden and at 71-4 after 23 overs Southgate were in control.

On came Ed Harvey to bowl his first ball in 1stXI cricket and what a debut ball it was. Not unlike the recently famous ‘Adil Rashid’ ball, it pitched, turned and lifted and Phil Dunnett took a fine catch of a ‘ripper’ of a leg break.

So, at 95-5 after 33 overs Southgate had hopes for a quick completion of the Wycombe House innings but it was not to be and the sixth wicket pair added 71 in good time, facing the various skills of Ed Harvey, Ravi and Woffers with equal confidence.

During this period the Southgate fielding did not falter with Daragh Edwards outstanding in the deep and at 166 the sixth wicket pair and those batsmen that followed decided to commit hari kari and test the catching abilities of the visiting out-fielders. These proved infallible and all catches offered were held as the home side collapsed to 185 all out. Woffers finished with 4-50 and Harvey with 3-56.

The wicket was described as not great, but during the first part of the match it seemed to have a certain amount of bounce.

That seemed to disappear at tea-time as batsman after Southgate batsmen fell to balls which scurried rather than bounced.

Only Shoaib Zulfiqar, with a typically aggressive 36, batted with any confidence. Tom Edrich was bowled by a short ball, attempting a pull, deceived by the non-existent bounce, one or two batsmen played back when they might have played forward and a couple who did play forward were lbw, with the umpires confident that the ball would not have gone over the stumps!

Captain Dunnett, having earlier added three more victims to his season’s tally,

was unlucky, playing on, yes you’ve guessed it, to a ball which kept low.

So, a heavy defeat, with ten players scoring a total of 26 runs between them.

Southgate rocked up to the North London ground in Walthamstow with promotion well within their sights albeit with a team understocked with regular bowlers. That problem looked even more serious when a quick inspection revealed a parched wicket which had more in common with the M25 than the usually lush strips that often present themselves at this level. The toss was lost and stand-in captain, Sal Syed was forced to send in Southgate to bat first.

Partha Dave and Peter McLoughlin opened the batting and they remained together until 78 runs and 24 overs later when Peter was removed, stumped off the bowling of Holford. Partha remained and he added 32 runs alongside Sal to leave Southgate 110-2 after 31 overs when Sal was bowled by Amin. The challenge was to add another 90 runs in 15 overs. With plenty of batting to come Joe McCormick and Partha added 20 before Partha was caught off the bowling of Maruf for an excellent 75. The challenge for the remaining batsmen was simple, take advantage of the pitch and score the 70 runs needed to get us to a self-imposed psychological target of 200 in the next 12 overs. Christian McLoughlin and Ankit Patel both pushed the score along with run a ball 21 and 23 respectively before falling in the same over with the score on 189. Ricky Gunn, Sam Larner, Mike Carter and Matthew Barrett then all contributed to the our total score before our declaration at the end of the 46th over thus setting North London a target of 208 to win from their allotted 46 overs.

After an excellent tea it was time to test the Southgate bowling, Mike and Ankit were handed the ball first. In total they would bowl 32 overs, giving away just 108 runs. Mike removed the three openers, one of them thanks to some astonishingly quick glove work from Ricky who was well and truly turning back the years behind the stumps. The game took a unexpected turn when Peter collapsed in the baking sun. He was immediately taken off to sit down and then off to the hospital along with Christian and Joe. Luckily, everything was fine but the quick work of everyone on the pitch and Joe’s efforts in particular were hugely commendable. We were now three fielders down but three of the younger lads from North London were press ganged in and sent out to field. The game was firmly heading for a draw, North London were behind the run rate but Southgate weren’t looking particularly threatening with the ball as the game headed into its 76th over. Barrett was able to winkle out another wicket but North London still had six wickets to call upon.

The turning point came when Sal threw the ball to Delmore Walters to send down some Sobers-esque accurate medium pace. After a couple of loosener overs Delmore’s eye was in and with Ankit supporting him from the other end, the dot ball was the most common outcome. With just 10 overs left it was time for some West Indian magic. Delmore bowled Lee to take the first of his wickets, there was blood in the water but the draw was still the favourite with limited time left and five wickets still to go. No problem for Delmore, he bowled the next four batsmen before Heptonstall chipped one up for Sam to catch at mid-off. Mike was now partnering Delmore up the slope but there were just two overs left when Delmore took the ball for his final effort. Five balls later and the last wicket was still standing and again the draw was the still favourite. But with the last ball of his spell, Delmore produced an arrow to trap 10th man, Tripp LBW for a famous and electrifying victory, finishing with impressive figures of 9-2-31-6 !!!

Credit goes to Ankit who bowled 14 overs for just 32 runs but he had some chances put down and was generally unlucky not to take a wicket. Partha carried most of the batting effort and his free scoring was vital in setting a defendable total. Southgate now have just three games left to play and sit just 2 points behind Harrow Town, who lie in second. We will play Harrow Town on the final day in what may prove to be the game of the season. For now however, focus is on the next game against Brentham who were able to frustrate Southgate earlier in the season when Southgate travelled to North West London.

Congratulations is in order to our very own Ashley Sivarajah in landing a contract on the groundstaff at Lords for 2016. It caps off a fine season for the left arm spinner who managed to pick up 39 wickets in the Prem this year after missing the first four games through injury.

This Saturday shall see the final weekend of Lasith Lakshan’s stay in the UK before he flies out on Wednesday 9th September back to his native Sri Lanka, where he starts his first class career playing for his new club Sri Lankan Ports Authority on friday in Columbo .

Although the big runs in the league have eluded him he has never looked out of sorts at the crease . The highlight being his 171 against Winchmore Hill in a cup fixture and a classy 60 in the league against a memorable win over Ealing . We are hoping he can sign off in style by getting that elusive league ton this Saturday at incidentally Ealing in our final league game.

His off spin bowling has been nothing short of brilliant this year for us teaming up with our own left armer Ashley Sivarajah and claiming 73 wickets between them thus far which has been a great return. Our Sri Lankan spin twins have teamed up and forged a formidable partnership causing havoc to all teams throughout the league. Lassy currently sits on 36 wickets and Ashley on 37 respectively so it will go down to the wire this weekend to see who comes out on top.

Lassy has been instrumental in keeping Southgate up in the top division and his all around great personality will be sorely missed throughout the club.

After the game a couple of tables have been booked at The Dipali for an end of season curry and a farewell to Lassy.

If you can make it could you please let me know ( 07823 338805 – faisal1605mir@hotmail.com )

On behalf of the whole club we would like to thank Lasith Lakshan for his services and hope that we can get him back next year if the league allows. We wish him well in his future cricketing exploits and hopefully one day we will get to see him represent his country at the highest level .